From Swing to Center Stage: Ricky Cardenas on Embracing Orpheus in 'Hadestown'

By Sarah E. Saysoukha | Photo Courtesy TPAC

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about yourself while being on tour with “Hadestown?”

The thing I’ve learned throughout this entire process is that the more that I can be myself the better it is for the company and for the show. The show is so unique, it’s not a role in which you have to be “the role;” it requires for you to bring some of yourself into it. Every person that plays each character has their own spin on it, their own take. It’s so unique and so different every time someone different plays one of the roles on that stage. The creative team is not asking for one specific Orpheus; they give you the space and time to really settle into what your role looks like. It’s very unique because that’s not always the case in musical theater. It’s incredible I think.

What’s your pre-show ritual to get into character?

I always have to set the vibe. My dressing room has to be a vibe and if I’m sharing with people we all have to be on the same vibe. It starts with some music and I typically like to bring a sunset lamp into my dressing room. Change the lighting, change the atmosphere. This show specifically is so heavy and intense so when you do it every single night you have to prepare yourself for what you’re about to go out on that stage to do.

How do you keep a show fresh after doing it so many times?

I think the individuality helps. I was originally a swing for the company and I just recently stepped into the role of Orpheus. I’m fully settling into the role and finding new moments to explore the acting has been so much fun. That has helped me so much with keeping it fresh.

Especially as Orpheus, you have so much opportunity to connect with different people on stage. He’s interacting with a lot of the cast members and he makes a toast during “Living It Up On Top,” which I think is one of the most special moments in the show because he gets to connect with everyone on that stage, including the band in that one moment. I think it’s such a grounding moment for the company, as a whole, to be like we’re here we’re doing this together and we have the gift of being able to tell the story to a different audience every night. Just knowing that really helps and gets me through the show every night.

“I think it’s such a grounding moment for the company, as a whole, to be like we’re here we’re doing this together and we have the gift of being able to tell the story to a different audience every night.”

Tell me about the best and worst parts of living on the road.

I would say the best part is definitely seeing a lot of the U.S. We even went to Mexico for a week! It’s been so nice. I had personally never even been to the West Coast so being in California for the first time was shocking in the best way. I feel like I belong there. I was like, “I’m moving here.” It was so iconic. I think seeing the world has been the best part. The worst part of it is definitely just the packing up and going so consistently. Our schedule isn’t the lightest. It’s just adjusting and making sure that you can make it work with what you have because it’s not the most grounding or the most settling. Being able to pack up and go is a skill and it’s something that you develop over time. I think that if you’re just starting off on tour you’re going to figure it out as you go. It’s not something that you just have down immediately when you start.

I know that you just stepped into the character Orpheus full-time, how is it to perform the same character every day now versus getting to be able to be different characters when you were a swing?

Being a swing comes with a lot of responsibility. I praise every single swing in every company out there. They are doing God’s work. Let me tell you, you get to work and you don’t know what your day is going to be like, you truly have no idea. Being Orpheus full-time now, I know that I’m showing up to tell that specific story. I think that there’s some comfortability in knowing that you’re doing the one role when you’re not a swing, but there’s a little bit of adrenaline and it’s a little fun being a swing because it’s like what am I going do today at work?

How much notice do you usually get as a swing that you’re going to be going on?

Sometimes it could be a couple hours before the show, it could be at the theater as soon as we get there, or it could be in the middle of the show. Recently one of the Workers Chorus got injured during the show, and so during intermission, they put me in a costume and I finished the show in the Workers Chorus.

When I was called on to be Orpheus, I was literally lying down on the PT bed, eyes closed relaxing, and all of a sudden I’m going on stage. Then the next day they’re like, “Oh and you’re full-time Orpheus.” So I went from laying down backstage to singing “La La La La La” every night on stage eight times a week. It’s a blessing. I honestly could not be more grateful for this opportunity. You’re never promised to be able to settle into a role and make it your own and so being given this gift of Orpheus has just come as a surprise. I’m so lucky to be here and to be able to tell the story and to make it my own.

“…you’re full-time Orpheus. So I went from laying down backstage to singing ‘La La La la la’ every night on stage eight times a week.”

If you had to give a backstage tour of “Hadestown” to someone who’s never seen the show, what is the one secret or funny detail you’d make sure to share?

I would definitely show them the stuffed animal that we have attached to the back of the set. The tech crew put some fun things on the backside of the sets. I think, show-related, I would have to show the lamps. The lamps are so cool. We have three that fly in from the ceiling, but we also have two that are handheld by two of the Workers Chorus. They’re huge and they’re heavy but they’re also so beautiful. The lamps are such an iconic part of the show that anyone who comes, I would have to show them the lamps.

If you could invite any character from “Hadestown” to a dinner party, who would it be and what would you serve them?

I would definitely invite over Miss Persephone because she always knows where the parties at, she’s always in good spirits and she’s always down for a good time and she always has a glass of wine ready to go. So I would definitely say Persephone and I think she deserves a good miso glazed salmon with a side salad and some rice. You know keeping it demure, keeping it yummy, keeping it healthy for Miss Persephone before she has to go back to hell. We have to treat her right before she goes back and she eats the gross food from the underworld.

If you had to teach one of the “Hadestown” characters how to use modern technology, such as a smartphone or social media, who would be the most confused, and what would their first post be?

I would say Hades just because I feel like he’s so out of it. I think he’s just a stubborn old man and he has no idea what he’s doing. So that would be a lot of fun and I think that he would make a lot of those millennial posts where he starts the video but takes three seconds to start talking, do you know what I mean?

Orpheus and Eurydice have a love story for the ages. What’s your all-time favorite love story, fictional or real?

That’s a great question! This is kind of cheesy, but you know those “Cinderella Story” movies with Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray? That movie will always put me in a good mood. It’s cheesy, it’s corny but any sort of like Cinderella/Prince Charming story, that is the one true pair. They’re just a classic that everyone’s obsessed with and everyone wants to be like. I’ll always swoon over that type of romance. That movie gets me good.

So “Hadestown,” of course, is filled with beautiful music. What’s one song from “Hadestown” or elsewhere that you can’t stop playing on repeat?

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get sick and tired of “All I’ve Ever Known.” No matter what, the music and lyrics are just so moving. I say that about the entire album but specifically “All I’ve Ever Known.” I can relate to that song so much and bring a lot of my real self to it and I think a lot of other people can too.

What is something you’ve learned from playing your character that you didn’t expect?

I learned that vulnerability is important and it’s good for people to see that because putting on a mask all the time is not going to get you anywhere in life. With a role that’s very demanding vocally and physically taxing it’s OK to not have hit every note. It’s OK as long as you’re being the most authentic version of yourself. That’s what matters. There’s only so much that you can control and there’s much more that you can’t control, especially in this industry.

The musical “Hadestown” will be at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center from Friday, March 7, to Sunday, March 9. It intertwines two mythic tales—that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone—and invites the audience on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back.